Yes they can: Amazon wipes Kindle, closes account, doesn’t tell why

22 Oct 12 15:26 by DoMiN8ToR in category Industry

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We recently reported about someone whose access to Microsoft services were blocked due to an unshared, private file on his Skydrive account. Not only did he lose his Skydrive account, also access to his Hotmail, Xbox Live and Agenda was blocked. Microsoft doesn’t seem to be the only company that just likes to wipe accounts, also Amazon employees seem to have found a new hobby. Norwegian IT blogger Martin Bekkelund is reporting that a friend mailed him that her account on Amazon was closed and that they also wiped her Kindle.

Even worse, they did this without a notice and without any explanation. Martin has posted an e-mail conversation between him (using the name of his female friend) and Amazon employees which outlines how powerless you are against these kind of large companies. In the last e-mail the Amazon employee even wishes her ‘luck in locating a retailer better able to meet her needs’.

Read the entire conversation here and shiver.

11 Comments on Yes they can: Amazon wipes Kindle, closes account, doesn’t tell why

ZappZapp: Posts: 30; Posted on: 22 Oct 12 17:18

Best reason to prefer physical books/media over any DRM crippled downloads.

No more amazon for me

olddancer: Posts: 285; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 00:13

Never had a paperback go blank on me, can't say that about e-readers.
Did however have the library ask for their books back on a couple of occasions.

ChristineBCW: Posts: 1298; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 00:19

ZZ's got my answer, too. Vinyl. Books. ha ha... I just can't believe DaTaxMan never hoped onboard my idea of a '66 Mustang convertible to tool around his new Denver digs.

But I am anxious to see how The Cloud Services hold up to actual use. I don't know if our torches & pitchworks will work when they start Bin-Laden'ing us with drones. "We're no longer satisfied with shutting down your IP access - we're comin' in thru the windows!!!" Blasted little dragon-fly RC copters...

Seán: Posts: 9647; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 01:48

Coincidentally I have recently been debating on the Kindle Fire HD which is coming out later this week, but wanted to see what's the reaction like first. However, after reading this story, I've made my decision and am glad to have read this now rather than later.

As for content protected by the Devil's Restrictions Management (DRM), the only purchases I make (and have made) are priced at $0.00. Where possible, any paid purchases I do make are physical and buying second hand is usually a lot cheaper than even digital downloads.

Steve33: Posts: 205; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 03:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Seán

That's what I do and will always do.
Physical media is hard to beat.

But if it were me and I downloaded purchased stuff, I would quickly copy it back to a hard drive.
This name they have given to up/download access called the "cloud"........
to me that isn't a good namesake.

xorsists: Posts: 385; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 03:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve33

If you use cloud don't put backup movies and music on your mobile devices you will soon suffer the same fate as the women in the story MS, amazon, google they can kiss my butt

and their cloud storage.

voxsmart: Posts: 219; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 07:42

There's no way I would buy anything that relies on "cloud" to store, or backup. I cannot understand why people do this. I can only guess they don't realise how vulnerable their storage is.
I can see this "we don't like, cut you off" policy will become realised more by potential buyers of DRM hobbled cloud stored reading material and will be put off, loosing more customers
I'm actually sick of Amazon lately, Audible has turned in to a fiasco of bad downloads, missing books in certain series and book listings in the wrong order causing me to listen to later books first. Most annoying.

DrDuty411: Posts: 21; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 08:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZappZapp

Best reason to prefer physical books/media over any DRM crippled downloads.

No more amazon for me

Yup DRM isn't worth the price of losing your rights to a company who can just wipe your data overnight and say oh well.

Liggy: Posts: 8209; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 14:22

I just read that the access was reinstated. The complete ignorance that happened in this case is probably still a good reason to avoid Amazon wherever possible.

cholla: Posts: 5355; Posted on: 23 Oct 12 17:42

Too bad some hacker can't or hasn't created a virus that could be hidden in an e-book that would go to a company like Amazon if they tried to wipe the ebooks from someones computer. Then shut their whole system down until they could fix it.

TSJnachos117: Posts: 326; Posted on: 24 Oct 12 00:43

When in doubt, burn whatever you buy to a non-rewritable optical disk. That way, they can't take it back without first assassinating you as a distraction... which won't be happening for a few more years.

PS: Amazon, I love you for selling DRM-free MP3's. After reading this, I feel so betrayed that you would think of doing this to a customer.

Yes they can: Amazon wipes Kindle, closes account, doesn’t tell why

11 Comments on Yes they can: Amazon wipes Kindle, closes account, doesn’t tell why

Yes they can: Amazon wipes Kindle, closes account, doesn’t tell why

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